Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Fair Work Amendment (Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2022 is an important bill from the government, and the Greens support it. The Greens have long advocated for paid family and domestic violence leave to help victims-survivors, who are predominantly women, to escape abusive relationships, to protect themselves and their children and to rebuild their lives. We've previously brought legislation before this parliament to give effect to paid family and domestic violence leave, and, as long-time advocates for this position, we support the government's bill today.

I want to offer a few brief remarks and note that we'll be making further contributions in the Senate. Our leader in the Senate, Senator Larissa Waters, who has long fought for this reform, will not only give a more extensive contribution but will suggest ways in which this bill could be improved, consistent with the intent of the bill but to make it available more broadly and more effective. We hope, when it comes to the Senate, the government will consider the changes that the Greens think would help improve this very important bill so that it can be passed and improved.

Financial stability and stable employment are critical: critical to a victim-survivor's capacity to escape, to stay safe and to recover. There has been an inquiry into this important bill, and one thing that came through very clearly, from many people who submitted to the inquiry, is that the practicalities of leaving have to be understood and have to be understood by this parliament—finding a new home, moving, meetings with police and lawyers, court appearances, dealing with Centrelink, attending medical appointments, talking to your children's school about new arrangements, installing security devices, closing joint accounts. All of these are very practical and critical things that a victim-survivor will have to deal with. They not only take time; they need a secure income. These are things that require a level of stability, which includes financial stability, otherwise they are very real barriers to victims-survivors leaving abusive relationships and protecting themselves and often their children as well.

The member for Dunkley made this point very eloquently. We have a gender pay gap in our society and the industries that tend to be lower paid and also tend to be women dominated industries, where many women are working, and we are seeing that in our renewed focus on that, which is very welcome, but understanding that many of the care professions are the lower paid industries and they are the areas you tend to find women more than men. Women are often starting from a lower base anyway, with lower incomes, lower savings and, often, lower retirement savings. If one compounds that with an understanding that in many abusive relationships there may well also be an element of financial control, which may form part of the abuse, we start to understand as a parliament and a society why it is so critical to ensure women, victims-survivors, can flee abusive relationships and protect themselves and their children and have the financial security and stability to do so.

No-one should have to choose between their safety and their job. In one of the hearings during the inquiry into this bill, Professor Kate Fitzgibbon quoted from a participant in Monash's 2021 research into paid family and domestic violence leave. One participant said: 'If I didn't have access to paid leave, I would have lost my job. I would have lost everything. I don't know if I would have survived. It was my lifeline.' So it's not only critical to support that process of leaving an abusive relationship, it is also critical in maintaining that ongoing connection with employment. It's absolutely vital for everyone, but it's especially vital for victims-survivors of abuse. It is, in many respects, as that person recounting their experience said, it is a lifeline, in a literal sense—an economic lifeline but also a very real lifeline.

Another thing that became clear during the committee inquiry is that, when a victim-survivor is forced to use unpaid leave to do the things that are needed to prepare for escape, that change in income could be a flag to an abuser. It could put a victim-survivor at further risk. As was made clear in the inquiry, payslips showing a lower income over a fortnight not only could be a flag but could have further flow-on consequences. When you seek assistance or seek to do a new thing in your life, something that is often asked of you is to show your payslips from the last period of time to show that you've got some security of income. If you've got a payslip showing a lower income over a fortnight because you've had to take unpaid leave, that could jeopardise applications for housing and eligibility for government support programs or even change the basis of an assessment for Centrelink support. That's another reason why this reform is critical. It adds to the stability and the foundation that allows victims-survivors to prepare for and take the next step. Not having it could be a barrier to being able to take that next step.

While the exact needs of victims-survivors will differ between situations, those needs will not be determined by the nature of their work or how long they've been with an employer. Therefore, the Greens strongly support ensuring that all employees, whether full time, part time or casual, can access the full 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave when needed rather than have the entitlement accrue over time. As Ms Lang of the Australian Services Union told the committee inquiring into the bill:

… we have never seen a circumstance where a perpetrator of violence has pro-rataed the amount of violence they inflict on their partner based on how many hours she works.

Any employee dealing with family and domestic violence needs to be able to access paid leave when the need, or opportunity, to escape arises. Experience in jurisdictions and businesses that have introduced paid family and domestic violence leave indicates that the uptake of leave is minimal, but knowing it's available makes a huge difference to employees weighing up the decision to escape violence. Access to this leave could save their life.

For that reason, the Greens support this important reform from the government. It is one that we have long advocated for. As I said at the start of my submissions, when this bill, hopefully, passes this House—and passes this House soon—and reaches the Senate, the Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate and Greens spokesperson for women, Senator Larissa Waters, will not only be supporting this bill but suggesting to the government ways in which the bill could be strengthened. We hope the government will look at those in the spirit in which they're offered.

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